Language selector?

[Gambit37]

In one version of CSB on the Amiga, I remember there being a graphic of a European map, and you clicked on a flag to choose your language. The map had a little dragon in the sea -- looked quite good.

I think I've extracted ALL the graphics from all the DATS I can find using Christophe's tools, but I can't see this map in any of the resources. Anybody know where I can find it? (I suppose I could run WinUAE and find the right version of CSB, but I'd like to grab the 'raw' data...

[ChristopheF]

There are several images stored directly into executable programs. The FTL logo, for example is in the "swoosh" file.

The map you are looking for is found in Dungeon Master for Amiga version 3.6, in the file APPB.DAT at offset 122h.
Look for 01 40 00 C8, which is the hexadecimal for 320x200 (size of a full screen image). I don't know where the image data ends, but it is not important: copy the content of this file from this address to the end of the file into a new file. Then create a .map file for my decoding script with these two lines:
ENDIAN=BIG,FORMAT=SINGLEITEM
0000,IMG1,PAL1,Language Choice Map,,

Then run the script and you have your image. With a wrong palette... But it is easy to change the palette in any image editing tool.

Note that there are also other "hidden" images that I never saw in several other .FTL files (executables).

[Gambit37]

Great, that worked, thank you. Now I just need to find the correct colours. Presumably there's also a PAL stored in the file?

What are the other 'hidden' images that you speak of? Anything interesting?

[Gambit37]

I extracted the Utility Disk Blue Plaque using the same technique. I also tried the APPB.FTL on the Amiga CSB Game Disk -- this is a much larger file. There was a matching HEX code for a 320x200 image, but after copying this into a new file and running the script, I received an error: "Unknown Control Code: 14 at 9" then after that A Windows Script Host error: Line 412,Char 5, Subscript out of range "[number: -189]" code 800A0009.

I assume this is because there are other assets in this .FTL file and the map file isn't correct?

[ChristopheF]

Here are the images I have found (wrong palettes):

In the game disk of CSB version 3.1:
In APPA.FTL (note this image is also present in DM v3.6!):

In APPB.FTL:

In CNFG.FTL

Depending on the color palette used, one message or the other is displayed. Here is a screenshot from WinUAE if you select only 512 KB of memory:


In Chaos Strikes Back version XX (the unknown version available on my site, probably a version 2.x):
In APPA.FTL


In Dungeon Master v3.6 (the one you were looking for):
In APPB.FTL:




When the script produces an error like the one you had, it means the data is not an image, or at least not in the usual format.
The color palettes are probably stored in the same files, but I don't know where.

[Gambit37]

Aah yes, I remember now -- the 1 meg required message appeared when a friend and I tried CSB an an unexpanded A500. Amazing what stuff you can still find in these games!